


Harmony

by AmralimeOfGondolin



Series: Akira Uchiha's Path to Harmony [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Action & Romance, Anger, Anti-Hero, Child of Prophecy, Dubious Morality, F/M, Gen, Hatred, Love/Hate, Moral Ambiguity, Multi, Samurai, Self-Discovery, Self-Doubt, Self-Hatred, Sensei Orochimaru (Naruto), Shinobi War, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:15:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28084536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmralimeOfGondolin/pseuds/AmralimeOfGondolin
Summary: Have you ever felt the steady, spirited drumroll of a soldier's march? It bleeds, rumbling, into the very bones of the ground and presses into your heels at each pace, drowning out each and every wandering thought with an insistent beating akin to one's heart. It is unflinching, unwavering, unfaltering, and, even before the ominous certainty of impending suffering, it does not yield. It is the persistent single-mindedness of iron will, and yet in the same moment the hollow echo of many thousands of men and women across many centuries who have died long before it was their time. What symphony, what percussion, is more resolute than that of soldiers' feet?Today, under the deceptively blue sky, it was Akira's heartbeat. Her heartbeat was steady like a drummer, keeping beat. It was no fancier than a ticking clock, a metronome, an acorn falling from a mighty oak tree. It was just her heart, a stark reminder of her own mortality in the face of the dangers yet to come. Yet, she would never describe it that way. It was a reminder that she could still do something, make a difference or accomplish her dreams. It was a reminder that as long as her heart kept beating, she could save the world, win the war and maybe, just maybe...
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Original Female Character(s), Inuzuka Kiba/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Akira Uchiha's Path to Harmony [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2057439
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7





	1. Akira Uchiha

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> This is an updated/rewrite of a Fanfiction I have posted on another website.  
> It starts out pretty standard, but I really like how it's evolving, so I hope you enjoy it too!
> 
> Ffion ♥

In the Konoha spring, the trees that lined the avenue were draped with pink and white blossoms, and the fragrance of the jasmine flowers that lined the ground wafted through the air. To see the boughs that were so destitute in the winter become so beautifully adorned lifted Akira's spirits. The floral scents diffused in the warming breeze, and the young ninja held her head high to savour it. When their petals would rain down in a steady trickle a few weeks later, she would feel like a bride just to walk under them. As Akira slowly travelled from home to the Academy, she stopped to pick a few bundles of sweet and purple lavender. Their green stalks swayed in the wind as she walked, and Akira smiled peacefully, hair blowing around behind her back like the lavender in her hands. 

Akira smiled peacefully. Nothing could disrupt the tranquillity that she felt at that moment; nothing except for the usual appearance of Naruto Uzumaki running down the street, two shinobi hot on his heels. Akira stood and laughed as he ran past and greeted her, a goofy smile on his face, and watched as he ran up to the rooftops to avoid his tailing company. Akira resumed her journey to the Academy with a shake of her head, admiring the freshly painted graffiti comically adorning Hokage Rock. Soon, the girl found herself on one of Konoha's main streets. The old traditional buildings stood firmly and remained colourful even under years of harsh exposure to the sun. While the main road was less peaceful, Akira loved to drown herself in the voices of happy villagers going about their day. She loved Konoha, loved its people, and while they didn't always feel the same about her, Akira vowed to protect them with her life. Some children joined the Academy for the thrill of it, like their parents, but Akira had enrolled for the sole purpose of keeping the village safe—she'd vowed it years ago.

A light tap on her shoulder pulled Akira from her thoughts, and her deep blue eyes were met with a familiar pair of honey-coloured eyes. Kai Manzo had been Akira's best friend nearly since birth. Before the Academy, they spent almost every waking hour together. And while their training and studies took up some of that time now, Kai and Akira still met up halfway to the Academy and walked together. Nothing was ever going to keep her from that boy.

"Good morning, Kai," Akira said brightly. She stuck a branch of lavender in Kai's white hair and giggled as it waved around in the wind. "Is that graffiti entirely Naruto's doing or did you have a part in that too?"  
"Oh, no, that's all him," Kai laughed. "I suddenly decided to become a sensible ninja."  
"Did you now?"

Banter ensued, and it didn't stop until the two friends reached the Academy. It was one of the largest buildings in Konoha, comprised of several buildings erected over time. The large oak tree that stood in front of the main door was beautiful as ever, golden beams of sunlight casting a warm glow on the swing that swayed beneath the leaves. The Academy classrooms were large and had high ceilings, based on the theory that larger classrooms lead to extensive education, expanding even to the blackboard itself, which touched both opposite walls. In front of the blackboard was a podium, situated far from the students' desks and put in a position where the teacher could view everyone at once. 

As with any school, students were taught a core curriculum of reading, writing, mathematics, science, and geography. These lessons were typically framed in a shinobi-context, and in fact, are learned to facilitate later instruction in tactics and strategy. Students learn the Shinobi Rules, how to strengthen their minds and bodies and receive special lectures from veteran shinobi. So far, Akira's favourite had been the visit from the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

In more practical classes, the students were taken through the handling of ninja weapons and tools, like shuriken and kunai, learning how to throw and wield them through target practice. They were also instructed on the basics of trap-setting, but Akira never paid attention during those parts. Academy students were likewise taught about chakra and how to use it, as well as how to make hand seals. In taijutsu class, students were engaged in physical activities to help train their bodies and develop their stamina. This was Akira's favourite part of the Academy. She loved sparring, manipulating chakra and beating someone in a match.

Kai and Akira entered the classroom together, and before Akira sat down, she put the small bundle of lavender in the vase on the window sill and then found her spot next to Kai. Desks were shared by three students and, as usual, her other friend Kiba Inuzuka sat on her other side.

"You're here early," Akira noted.  
"Hana had to drop me off earlier than usual," he said simply.  
"She's working this early?" Kai asked.  
"Yeah, something about Naruto again."  
"He painted graffiti on the Hokage," Akira chuckled. "Great impressionist work, if I do say so myself."  
"I'm not surprised," a voice from behind said. "Iruka sensei is gonna be late because of him. What a drag."

Though lazy by nature and finding nearly everything 'a drag', Shikamaru Nara had a rare intellect that consistently allowed him to prevail at anything, whether it be a sparring match of a game of chess. Remarkably, he was able to get away with his laziness, spending his days in class, either sleeping or watching the clouds. He was easy to get along with, which is why he was another one of Akira's good friends.

"You think everything's a drag, Nara," Kai said.  
"That's because everything is a drag, Manzo," Shikamaru said lazily, looking back outside.  
"I just hope he doesn't get into too much trouble," Akira said, a little worried.  
"There aren't many chances of that happening, Akira," the person beside Shikamaru said.

Sasuke Uchiha was, according to most girls, quite handsome, but every time someone made a note of it, Akira couldn't help but gag. 

"Always the pessimist, aren't you, brother?" Akira said.

Sasuke glanced at her, then looked away silently. Akira sighed and rolled her eyes. Turning back towards the front, Akira noticed Iruka-sensei walking into the classroom, huffing and puffing, with Naruto trailing behind him.

"Daily routine, step four..." Akira began.  
"Naruto's lecture," Kai and Kiba chorused.  
"I'm at the end of my rope, Naruto!" Iruka shouted. It seemed as if he was continuing a conversation. "You failed the graduation test last time and the one before that. Tomorrow you've got another chance, and you're messing up again!"

As usual, Naruto wasn't having it. He turned his head in a huff, which earned everyone the joy of redoing yet another revision of the transformation jutsu. A collective groan was issued from the classroom, but everyone shuffled to the front and lined up. First was Sakura Haruno, one of the many girls who often made Akira gag if she was around Sasuke.

"All right, Sakura here! Let's do it—transform!"

She held her hands up in the appropriate seal and in a puff of grey smoke, Sakura was replaced by Iruka-sensei.

"You transformed into me?" Iruka said, baffled for a moment. "All right, good—next!"  
"Yes, I did it!" Sakura said happily. "Did you see that Sasuke?"  
"Ugh," Akira moaned, faking a gag.

Sakura glared at her before shoving past her. Akira rolled her eyes and stepped forward. She wasted no time in speaking and transformed into the Second Hokage.

"Oh, Lord Second—good choice! Well done, Akira. Next!"  
"This is a waste of time," Shikamaru complained as he and Akira switched places.  
"Shut up, Shikamaru," Akira laughed, returning to normal. "Everything is a waste of time with you."  
"Yeah, we always pay for your screw-ups," Ino Yamanaka whined, pointing to Naruto.  
"Like I care," he grumbled.

And it went on and on until Naruto went up last, as usual. And, again, as usual, Naruto couldn't pass up the opportunity to goof off. He stepped up to the front and placed his hands together, but instead of transforming into Iruka-sensei like most of the others, he transformed into a tall and entirely naked blonde girl who much resembled Naruto. Taken off-guard, Iruka shrieked as Naruto transformed back into his usual self and burst out laughing.

"Got ya! That was my 'Sexy Jutsu'!"  
"Cut the stupid tricks!" Iruka-sensei yelled. "This is your last warning!"

The class was dismissed soon after that. Akira, Kai, Kiba and Shikamaru had to get past the barrage of Sasuke fans before they could exit the classroom, and Kiba wasn't shy to bust right through them. Naruto stayed behind with Iruka-sensei, and Akira saw them going off towards Hokage rock with cleaning supplies in hand as she and her friends made it to the outdoor training yard. While Shikamaru took a nap underneath a tree, Kai and Kiba practised their aim by throwing kunai at target posts, and Akira spent the rest of the afternoon hacking away at tree stumps with an old sword. A few students joined Kiba and Kai, and it soon turned into a not-so-friendly competition that Kai won.

"Hey, you only won because Shikamaru startled me!" Kiba complained.  
"It's not my fault; I had a nightmare," Shikamaru sighed.  
"What were you even dreaming about that made you scream like a little girl?"  
"Your mother."  
"HEY!"

The four bickering friends parted ways just before sunset and returned home, but Akira took a detour through town. Her and Naruto had a strange relationship. They weren't exactly friends, nor rivals like he and Sasuke, but she shared a strange kinship that she had with no one else. Passing by Ichiraku Ramen, Akira hoped to find him and see how he was doing. There, she found him slurping on a bowl of ramen beside Iruka-sensei. Akira smiled and approached, silently poking her head between both of them. Naruto screeched and nearly fell out of his seat.

"You've killed me, Akira!"  
"Sorry, couldn't help myself," the girl laughed. "Can I join you?"  
"Yeah, all right," Naruto said begrudgingly. "Just don't scare me again."

Akira took a seat beside Naruto and ordered her usual pork bone broth ramen. As she slowly began eating, Iruka resumed the conversation he was having with Naruto.

"Naruto, why would you do that to the Hokage faces? I mean, you know who they are, don't you?"  
"'Course I do!" the boy said, then slurped the last of his ramen. "Everyone knows. They were the greatest shinobi of their time, right? The best of the best? Undefeated ninja champs? And the Fourth Hokage is the one who saved the village from the Nine-Tailed Fox—he was the most amazing."  
"Then why did you—"  
"'Cause I'm gonna be greater than any of them! Me, Naruto, the next Hokage—a ninja legend! Oh, Akira, you can be my advisor!"

Akira couldn't help but giggle. The boy's optimism was infectious, and it was always fun to see Iruka stare at him in complete confusion.

"So that way, everyone will have to stop disrespecting me and look up to me! Believe it!" Naruto paused, then continued a little awkwardly, "Uh, by the way, I have a favour to ask, sensei."  
"You want another bowl?"  
"I wouldn't put it past him," Akira chuckled.  
"Hm, no," Naruto said after a moment's contemplation. "I wanna try on your headband! Come on, pretty please!"

Iruka reached for his forehead protector. It gleamed in the low light of the ramen shop, the engraving of the Konoha leaf contrasting with the shine of the metal it was etched on. Iruka laughed. 

"What this? No way! You can only wear the Leaf headband when you finally graduate from the Academy and become a ninja. You've got to pass the test tomorrow!"  
"I'm going to pass," Akira said, suddenly determined. Everything from the way she was sitting up straight to the tone in her voice showed it. "I'm going to pass, and I'm going to become the greatest I can become—no matter what!"


	2. Mizuki's Secret

Akira stared at the dusty box that took up most of the space on top of her dresser. It was her mother's old jewellery box, sturdily made of mahogany with a delicate lace pattern carved on its lid. She stared at it for a while, thinking, debating whether she should pull out its contents or not. It contained no jewellery, as Akira wasn't one to wear shiny things unless gifted, but it held something of far greater importance to her, something that once belonged to her father. Akira opened the box with a deep breath and retrieved its contents, gently putting it in her pocket for later.

As she did every morning, Akira met up with Kai at the main avenue, underneath the blossoming trees. It was the morning of the exam, and Akira wasn't nervous at all. She knew the jutsu like the back of her hand, she'd practised them time and time again, and the short written exam, she thought, wouldn't be much of a problem. Akira was far more concerned with Naruto, who had skipped most of his classes this year and couldn't even perform a simple transformation jutsu. However, there wasn't much she could do, and with a sigh, she and Kai continued on their way to the Academy, cherry blossom petals falling into their hair.

"You look like something out of a manga, sometimes," Kai said suddenly.  
"Hm?"  
"Wind in your hair? Cherry blossom petals? It looks like you're the protagonist of a cheesy shoujo manga."  
"I even have my slightly homosexual sidekick," Akira laughed.  
"I am not your homosexual sidekick!"

Everyone was already waiting by the examination room when Akira and Kai arrived. In a few minutes, the doors would open, and they would all be taking the exact same exam, the one that would determine who was good enough to become a Genin. If they succeeded, they would earn a brand new Leaf headband, the proud symbol of the village's shinobi. 

"You nervous," Akira asked as she and Kai came up to Kiba and Shikamaru.  
"Nervous? Me? Who do you think I am, Kira?" Kiba scoffed. He then paused suddenly and stared.  
"What?"

Kiba reached over and plucked a blush pink petal from Akira's black hair. She heard Kai mutter something about manga again.

"Petal in your hair," Kiba said simply.  
"Oh, I thought I got them all."  
"Doesn't matter, it looked cute in your hair," Kai said.  
"Ugh, good thing it's go—Kiba, don't you dare put it back!"

Just then, the door to the classroom opened, and Iruka-sensei's face popped out of the doorframe. He smiled brightly at everyone then ushered them inside. The students were seated two per desk, leaving space in-between to discourage peeking. Iruka explained the rules, gave a brief overview of the exam, and then a collective sound of scribbling resonated through the classroom as he gave the all-clear to start. Akira sat cross-legged on her chair (which proved to be a point of much amusement in her regular classes) and leaned over her paper, scanning the pages to scope out the most challenging questions to answer first. She answered them first, taking her time, and finished with the easy ones. Akira stood at the same time as her brother, and he looked at her, irked, but she pulled a face at him and dropped her exam on Iruka-sensei's desk with him regardless.

Iruka gave a quick once over of their papers and let them exit the classroom, pending the rest of the examinations. Akira sat down on one of the benches in the hallway, intending to wait for all her friends to finish, but Sasuke kept on walking.

"Sasuke!" The boy stopped and turned. "You're not leaving, are you? Can't you wait for the others to finish?"  
"They're your friends, not mine," he said.  
"Come on! Kai's been there since the beginning—he might as well be."  
"The second Kai—"  
"You can run off," Akira chuckled as her brother came back to sit with her. "Thanks."  
"Yeah, whatever."

Akira stared at the door to the classroom.

"Think you're gonna ace it?"  
"Obviously," Sasuke said smugly. "I wouldn't take it if I wasn't going to ace it. You?"  
"I don't doubt that I aced it. I just hope that everyone else passes. I don't want to be separated."  
"Why do you worry about others so much?"  
"I don't expect you to get it," Akira admitted. "Considering all you care about is what directly concerns you. But after Itachi... I just need to hold onto everything I love... you know?"

Sasuke frowned and looked towards the door. There was a moment of silence between them, where all they could hear was the distant scratching of pencils and kids running amok in the distance.

"Did you bring it?" Sasuke said after a while.  
"Yeah, I did," Akira replied, smiling.  
"Heh, you really do intend to graduate today."  
"So do I!"

Kai came barrelling out of the classroom, a cheerful expression on his face. Akira heard Iruka shush him from inside the classroom, but Kai laughed it off.

"How well do you think you did?"  
"One hundred and twenty per cent. They're gonna give me bonus points they didn't even know they had," Kai said happily, swaying on the heels of his feet. "My guess is that you're gonna get yet another perfect score. On this and on the practical."

When the conversation began to pick up, Sasuke stood. He briefly acknowledged Kai, which was an honest to god miracle, and walked off.

"At least he stayed to keep you company."  
"Only because I asked. Apparently, you're not his friend."  
"I would be offended if I didn't know him better," Kai admitted, then took a seat beside Akira.  
"Yeah, so would I," she responded. "I just wished he'd stop being so distant. Did you know he actually asked me why I cared about you guys at all?"  
"I'm not even surprised.

It was another short while before anyone came out of the classroom. Soon, Kiba and Shikamaru joined them in the hall and followed the next professor to the training yard where they spent the next half hour throwing kunai at targets and sparring with dummies. Then came the final part of the exam. One by one, and in alphabetical order, everyone went into the classroom to perform one final jutsu. Some emerged with sad faces, while most, like Kai, Shikamaru and Kiba, emerged with brand new Leaf shinobi headbands.

"Ugh, this is painful," Shikamaru complained.  
"I already told you, go wait at Ichiraku's," Akira said with a chuckle. "I'll join you guys later."  
"Don't have to tell me twice," Kiba said quickly, getting to his feet. "I deserve food after all this effort."

Shikamaru, Kai and Kiba stood and ran off down the hallway. She heard one of them run into someone and laughed, then turned her attention to Iruka, who'd just called her name.

Akira stood in front of a table full of Leaf shinobi headbands gleaming in the sunlight pouring in from the large windows. Sitting behind that table were Iruka and Mizuki-sensei, both Chūnin, and, for today, the examiners who would tell her whether she was going to be a Genin or not.

"The final test is on the Clone Jutsu," Iruka said.  
"When you're ready, please produce at least three copies of yourself," Mizuki added.

Akira nodded and took a deep breath. She glanced at the lavender she'd put in the vase the day before, smiling faintly, then turned back to her professors with her hands in the correct seal. In a puff of smoke, three clones identical to Akira appeared at her side, all of them looking healthy and completely functional.

"Wonderful," Iruka said proudly. "Best clones we've seen all day, aren't they Mizuki?"  
"Yes, well, I'd expect nothing less from an Uchiha. I'm sure her brother's clones will be just as good."

Akira looked on nervously as Iruka and Mizuki spent the next few minutes talking in hushed voices. They rifled through some paperwork, no doubt her school grades and the results of her written exam, and after a while, they looked up at the girl with bright smiles.

"Mizuki and I have decided that, without a doubt, you are to graduate. Congratulations, Akira, you're a Genin!"

Grinning from ear to ear, Akira bowed deeply in thanks. It wasn't a surprise, but she was still proud of herself for not screwing up.

"You can come up and grab a headband now."  
"Actually, sensei, I was wondering if it would be okay to wear this one."

"You can come up and grab a headband."  
"Actually, sensei, I was wondering if it would be okay to wear this one, instead."

Akira pulled out a Leaf shinobi headband from the pocket of her grey cargo pants that had clearly seen better days. It was worn, scratched in a few places, but it still shone brightly in the sunlight. Iruka and Mizuki looked at her curiously.

"This belonged to Fugaku Uchiha, my father," Akira explained. "As I intend to continue his legacy to protect Konoha with everything I have, I wish to honour him by wearing the headband that was given to him, as my own." 

Mizuki and Iruka smiled softly.

"That is quite admirable of you, Akira," Mizuki said. "I don't see a problem with it; it does represent the Leaf shinobi, after all."  
"Akira," Iruka said.  
"Yes, sensei?"  
"Wear it proudly."  
"Thank you, Iruka-sensei," Akira said, bowing briefly, "I will."

Akira unravelled the headband's fabric and wrapped it around her waist, along with all the other colourful pieces of cloth she used as a belt. Akira couldn't help but smile. This was the first step towards achieving her goal, and with one last bow towards Iruka and Mizuki, she bolted out of the exam room.

"Starting today, I'm a ninja!"  
"Figures," Sasuke scoffed. "You never let anything get past you."  
"Can't you just be proud of me for one second?"  
"No."  
"Get your ass in there, Sasuke, you're next," Akira groaned.  
"Oh, I hope he passes," Sakura sighed as Sasuke entered the classroom.  
"Of course, he'll pass, forehead!" Ino retorted. "How dare you doubt Sasuke like this!?"  
"What're you guys even still doing here?" Akira asked sharply. "It's not like Sasuke gives either of you any attention whatsoever."

Sakura and Ino went off on her. With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Akira weaved her way through the remaining students (most of which were girls who were waiting for Sasuke) and found Naruto sitting quietly alone on a bench.

"Hey, Akira. Nice belt," he said, glimpsing at her father's headband.  
"Thanks, Naruto," Akira said with a smile. "How're you feeling?"  
"Nervous. Is the final test really a Clone Jutsu?"  
"Yeah, it is."  
"Just my luck; it's my worse jutsu!"  
"Hey, wanna know a secret?"

Naruto looked up at her and nodded.

"I can't do the Uchiha's Great Fireball Jutsu, yet."  
"Woah, really!? But you're so good at everything!"  
"Well, the Fire nature has never been my strongest," Akira admitted. "So, maybe it's the same for you."  
"What'd you mean?"  
"Maybe the Transformation Jutsu, the Clone Jutsu... maybe they're like my Great Fireball Jutsu. Not your strong suit. So, if you don't pass today, it isn't so bad. Maybe you just haven't found the jutsu that works for you. It doesn't matter if you don't pass today, or even next year because you'll find the jutsu that works for you, and when you do, then you'll ace this exam no problem!  
"Besides, becoming Hokage isn't all about being a strong ninja, you know. A Hokage needs to be wise, confident, passionate, loyal, open-minded, accepting, generous... So, don't sweat it, okay? If you don't pass today, that'll just give you more time to develop the other qualities of a Hokage you already possess."

Akira smiled brightly at Naruto, but he just stared blankly at her, blinking rapidly in some sort of wonder. She never really noticed, but Akira had a habit of doing that.

"Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto snapped out of his daze and stood, heading towards the classroom. As he reached the doorframe, he turned back to Akira, smiling just as bright as she was moments ago.

"Talking like that, you sound like a Hokage," he said. "I won't let you show me up. I'll do my best, believe it!"

Akira never joined Kai, Kiba and Shikamaru at Ichiraku ramen. Instead, she followed Naruto to a rooftop overlooking the village. He hadn't graduated, and while he said nothing about it, Akira could tell he was devastated. Mizuki had wanted to pass Naruto because of sheer determination, but Iruka disagreed. As the two sat in silence, Mizuki joined them, looking sadly at the boy.

"Iruka-sensei is tough," he said. "He's not against you, Naruto."  
"Then, why? Why only me?" Naruto yelled.  
"He wants you to be strong with all his heart, but that'll never happen if he goes easy on you. He's like you, you know, both of you. No parents."

Akira's eyebrows twitched into a frown. She didn't know this about her sensei.

"But this time... I really wanted to graduate," Naruto said glumly.  
"Well, then I guess I'll just have to tell you," Mizuki said with a small chuckle. "It's a secret, but I'm gonna have to let you in on it."


	3. Mizuki's Betrayal

Like pillows of the land, the hills that lay friendly in the day were darkly ominous by night. The illuminated paths just hours before became lost in a blackness that even moonlight couldn't help. The magnificent sunshine trees towered over Akira and Naruto as they sat in the middle of a glade. The air was several degrees colder, and Akira shivered unconsciously. She often listened for signs of life around them, but the only thing she was hearing was the mumbling of Naruto and the rustling of the Sacred Scroll he had stolen.

"Naruto, we need to bring that back! I can't even believe Mizuki-sensei even mentioned it in the first place."  
"He said I could graduate if I got my hands on it and learned a jutsu."  
" _Could_ and _if_ , Naruto. And I don't even think that that's true," Akira said, incensed. "That's the Sacred Scroll! It has all the forbidden jutsu that the Second Hokage outlawed! Everyone is going to call the Chūnin _and_ the Jōnin to come looking for us!"

Naruto unrolled the first section of the scroll and began reading. 

"Naruto! You can't just _read_ the sacred scroll!"  
"Oh, lookie, I'm reading it!"  
"Naruto!"

Akira groaned as Naruto kept on reading. She sat cross-legged in front of him and listened for any movement around them. It was quiet for hours, and Naruto had moved on to trying to learn one of the jutsu on the scroll. Akira watched him with a keen eye as he created clones that slowly and slowly got better with each try. He was exhausted, panting and sweaty, and Akira could tell that his chakra reserves had gone down, but it wasn't time for relaxing. Akira picked up a noise in the forest nearby and took a defensive stance.

"It's over!" Iruka said with a small, strained laugh.

Naruto chuckled and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. As Iruka turned to Akira, she averted her gaze for a moment, then looked back at him and shrugged.

"Couldn't stop him," she said casually.  
"Yeah, but you're quick, sensei! I only managed to learn one jutsu out of this scroll!" Naruto chirped. "It really wasn't easy, but let me show you! I'm gonna show you this amazing jutsu, and then you're going to let me graduate, okay?" Iruka looked on, confused. "That's the way it works, right? Anyone who learns jutsu from this scroll automatically graduates."  
"Huh? Where'd you get that idea?" Iruka asked.  
"Mizuki-sensei—he said that if Naruto got the scroll and learned from it, he had to graduate. Like a rite of passage or something," Akira scoffed. "I for one, don't believe him but Naruto—"  
"Why would he have told us where to find the scroll then, huh?" Naruto argued. "Mizuki-sensei wants me to graduate, all right? Believe it!"

The look of utter confusion on Iruka's face wasn't reassuring Akira at all. Not only did they have in their possession the sacred scroll that could get them into more trouble than Akira could possibly imagine, but Mizuki's story didn't seem to be adding up to Iruka at all.

"Mizuki-sensei should be here soon, Iruka-sensei," Akira said. "I'm sure he'll clear this up."

There was a rustle of leaves nearby, and kunai came straight from the bushes. They lodged themselves in Iruka's clothes, pinning him to the tree he was standing next to, and a shuriken came flying in after, lodging itself in Iruka's leg.

"I see you've found our little hideaway," Mizuki said maliciously.  
"So, that's the way it is, huh?" Iruka said, face contorted in pain.  
"I should have known," Akira muttered to herself. "What kind of idiot am I?"  
"Naruto!" Mizuki said sharply. "Give me the scroll, now."  
"Wait a minute..." the boy whispered, looking between the three other shinobi. "What's going on here?"  
"Naruto! Don't let Mizuki get the scroll!" Iruka shouted.  
"It's like I told you, Naruto," Akira continued. "That scroll contains forbidden jutsu, jutsu that could destroy the village! Mizuki... he used us to get at it!"

Naruto rolled up the scroll and gazed angrily at Mizuki.

"Naruto," Mizuki said a little more gentle. "Don't let them trick you, Naruto. Iruka's just trying to scare you because he doesn't want you to have the scroll."  
"No one should have the scroll!" Akira yelled. "It's the Sacred Scroll—it's protected by the Hokage, for the Hokage only! Stop lying to us!"  
"Oh, I'll tell you who's really lying!" Mizuki laughed.  
"No, Mizuki!" Iruka yelled.

Akira frowned. It didn't seem likely that Iruka kept something from Naruto, but then again, Mizuki hadn't seemed like the kind of person to steal the Sacred Scroll.

"They've been lying to you your whole lives! Since the decree all those years ago."  
"What decree?" Naruto asked.  
"Everyone who was alive then knows. Iruka's trying to hide it from you right now. He'd do anything to shut me up," Mizuki taunted. 

Naruto looked up at him, wide-eyed.

"What is this decree? Why does everyone know about it?"  
"Don't tell him, Mizuki, it's forbidden!" Iruka-sensei yelled.  
"The decree is that no one can tell you that the Nine-Tailed Fox that almost destroyed the village is inside you." 

Akira's brain stuttered for a moment, and her eyes widened in shock.

"The Fox spirit that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed our village has taken over your body. You are the Nine-Tailed Fox!"  
"Stop it!" Iruka yelled.  
"They've all been sneaking around, hiding things from you your whole life!" Mizuki said. "Didn't you think it was strange how they all treated you? Like dirt. Like they hated you for just being alive. And Akira might not have hated you, but now that she knows? Look at her. Look at the fear in her eyes. She's just like everyone else. She'll hate you just for being you."  
"No!" Naruto shouted, tears in his eyes. 

His hands balled into fists, and suddenly, the wind picked up, swirling around him like a vortex.

"That's why you'll never be accepted in this village. Even your beloved sensei hates your guts!"

Mizuki removed a giant shuriken from his back, and as he began to spin it, Akira solidified her stance. She reached into one of the pouches on her hip and felt the cold metal of her kunai against her fingers. Then, Mizuki let out a loud yell and threw the shuriken at Naruto. Akira dashed forward and threw three of her kunai at Mizuki, which he dodged narrowly. At that same moment, Iruka had freed himself from the kunai holding him to the tree and put himself between Naruto and the giant shuriken. It hit him square in the back, piercing him easily.

"Iruka-sensei!" Akira shouted voice strained.  
"W-Why?" Naruto whimpered.  
"Because we're the same," Iruka said, choking a little. "When I was a kid, no one seemed to care. They didn't have time for me. They just forgot I was there. I just wanted them to see me... And know my name. My school grades weren't good enough to get attention, so I did crazy things. And then I had to pay for it. It was hard." Tears began falling from Iruka's eyes. "I know that's how you feel, Naruto. You feel lonely, and it hurts inside. And I could've been there for you more. I let you down. I'm sorry. No one should have to suffer that much. No one should be alone like that."  
"Don't make me laugh!" Mizuki chuckled darkly. "Iruka always hated you. He was orphaned because the Nine-Tailed Fox killed his parents. And that beast is now inside you. He'd say anything to get the scroll from you."

Naruto suddenly got up and ran as fast as he could, and Akira followed him as quickly as she could. 

Akira hoped that Naruto didn't believe the vile words that were coming out of Mizuki's mouth. She hoped he didn't think that she hated him. After all, she and Iruka had always been nice to him. And while Akira was terrified of the Nine-Tailed Fox, that didn't make Naruto a monster. 

Akira found Naruto hiding behind a tree, clutching the scroll. She landed skillfully in front of him and crouched down. Naruto didn't move.

"Naruto?"  
"Go away..."  
"You know that Iruka-sensei and I don't hate you, right?"  
"But Mizuki—"  
"Mizuki is an idiot. I don't know why I didn't see it... Maybe I was just too busy making sure you didn't get yourself caught, or maybe I just wanted to know what it felt like to goof off."

Naruto looked up at her, bright blue eyes glazed over. 

"You and Kai do crazy things together all the time, and yeah, most of the time I think you're idiots. But sometimes I want to know what it's like to fool around. So when Mizuki mentioned the scroll... I don't know. Maybe I was curious. Maybe I wanted to have fun. I haven't had real fun in such a long time. Sasuke... he's so far gone. My family... I don't have one anymore either."  
"But you look so happy all the time," Naruto said.  
"So do you, Naruto..."

Naruto looked at her surprised, and that surprise slowly melted into determination.

"You're a fool!" Naruto and Akira heard Mizuki say. "Why are you protecting that freak? He's the one who wiped out your family."  
"I don't care what you say, 'cause you're not getting your hands on that scroll," Iruka said.  
"As if you could stop me. Don't you get it? Naruto is just like me."  
"How's that?"  
"He wants the scroll for his own power, and his own vengeance," Mizuki said. "That's how beasts are. He'll pour all his rage into the scroll and destroy everything."  
"You're right," Iruka said. "That is how beasts are. But that's not how Naruto is. He's nothing like that. Naruto's one of a kind. He works hard, puts his whole heart into it. Sure he messes up sometimes, and everyone jumps on him... But his suffering only makes him stronger. That's was separates him from being a beast. So you're wrong. He's nothing like the Nine-Tailed Fox. He's Naruto Uzumaki, of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

Akira heard the clink of the other shuriken on Mizuki's back.

"You really believe that dribble? Iruka, I was going to save you for later, but I changed my mind... You're finished!"

Naruto and Akira shared a look and jumped up from their hiding place. Akira threw half a dozen shuriken at the giant one and veered it off course, Naruto headbutted Mizuki in the stomach, sending him flying backwards.

"Naruto! Akira!"  
"Not bad, for little punks," Mizuki said in standing.  
"If you ever lay a hand on my sensei—I'll kill you!" Naruto growled.  
"Such big words... I can completely destroy you with one move!"

Simultaneously, to Iruka's confusion, Naruto and Akira put their hands into a seal formation he didn't recognise. But Naruto was confused too. How had she learned the jutsu he himself had learned only moments ago?

"Take your best shot, Mizuki. We'll give it back to you a thousandfold!" Akira shouted.  
"Let's see you try! Show me what you can do, pests!" Mizuki spat.  
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" both children chorused.

From an immense cloud of smoke appeared hundreds of copies of Naruto and Akira. They surrounded Mizuki, staring him down, as he slowly realised just what kind of clones these were. They weren't illusions, they were solid, real duplicates of the people who'd performed the jutsu. The clones called out to Mizuki, yelling and taunting him until, scared and overwhelmed, he stumbled and moved back. But there were clones behind him too, and he screamed as the clones jumped over him, beating him to a pulp. They only disappeared when Mizuki lay unconscious on the ground, blood pouring from his nose.

"Sorry, Iruka-sensei," Akira said sheepishly, glancing down at Mizuki.  
"Yeah, I think we got a little carried away," Naruto chuckled. 

Iruka glanced at Mizuki and grimaced.

"I think you might have," he said. "Hey, Naruto, come here a minute. There's something I want to give you."  
"What is it?" the boy said excitedly.  
"I'm not telling! Close your eyes."  
"Hey, wait—Akira! How'd you learn the Shadow Clone Jutsu? You didn't even look at the scroll."  
"Well, that's a little secret I'll be keeping for myself," she said with a mischievous smile.

The forest was quiet. All that could be heard was the rustling of the leaves in the gentle breeze. Looking up, Akira was transfixed by the myriad of fluttering leaves that danced in the high boughs, making a living roof above them. She was calmed, almost hypnotised, by the early morning rays seeping through the leaves. They'd been there all night, but Akira didn't feel tired in the slightest.

Iruka had removed Naruto's goggles and replaced them with his own headband. A wistful smile rose to Akira's lips, and her hand went to the bandana around her waist. She was a little jealous but happy for Naruto. The ball of tangled warn in Akira's mind was messy, and she desired, for a split second, that she too had someone like Iruka to watch over her, the memory of her family far away in her mind. But Naruto's gleeful smile washed all the jealousy away, at least for the moment, she revelled in his laughter and delight.


	4. Accidental Contact

Akira woke up following the shrill sound of a whistle. The warm, vibrant morning rays had already risen, much like Sasuke, who was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast by the time his sister lazed out of bed. The smell of miso reached her room as she pulled on her cargo pants and clasped them over the hem of her black sleeveless shirt. She threw on her teal happi and left her room, breathing in the smell of miso and scorched rice cakes.

Sasuke acknowledged Akira with a glance as she entered the kitchen, and she gave him a quiet 'good morning' before grabbing their small clay teapot to steep jasmine flowers and green tea leaves. Small bowls and cups were set on their bamboo table and Sasuke served the soup while Akira poured the tea. They both ate in comfortable silence, then washed their own dishes and set them to dry before Sasuke left home without Akira.

Akira returned to her room to wrap a crimson and navy scarf around her waist, hoping to mitigate the fact her pants were too large, and tied her father's bandana over that. She clasped a few kunai and shuriken pouches to her belt and thighs, then struggled to slip her feet into her sandals as she put on her stud earrings. Eventually, Akira gave up with the sandals until her hands were free, and then ran out of the house to meet up with Kai.

She sat on the bench underneath the blossoms again, staring at the people walking by and going about their business. A few of them said hello, another pulled her child away, some congratulated her on the bandana that was gleaming around her waist. Akira stared as they walked away, watched as their clothes rippled in the breeze, as they kicked a wayward stone without even thinking about it. 

Kai appeared moments later, clad in a nicer kimono than usual, and Akira noticed he'd actually taken the time to comb his hair. 

"Wow, even you're putting effort into picture day," she joked.  
"Hey, this is going to be my picture on file for at least the next two years, it needs to look good," Kai said.

In the Academy, waiting in line, most of the girls were passing around portable mirrors, the guys were messing up each other's hair or, in Naruto's case, were busy painting their faces because, of course, as per Naruto's usualy behaviour, a serious picture did not warrant seriousness.

"Naruto, this is your identification picture, not a class picture," Akira groaned, watching Naruto paint himself red and white. "It really isn't the time to goof off—Kai don't even think of dropping your finger in that paint!"

Kai slowly backed away the finger that was inching towards the paint and smiled sheepishly. Akira pushed him ahead, all the way to Kiba and Shikamaru, who were next in line for their pictures. Shikamaru made a face while Kiba was being photographed, resulting in a hilarious picture of Kiba doubled over in laughter so that you could only see his face in a semi-decipherable blur, and Shikamaru didn't smile at all, instead, looking rather annoyed as Kiba tried to make him laugh as well. Kai's picture turned out rather good, as he'd threatened to hit anyone who tried to ruin it, and Akira got to take a picture without distraction as well. She didn't smile completely, and she thought she looked a little cocky until she saw the flower petals in her hair and laughed.

After Akira convinced the picture lady to give her a 'blackmail' copy of Kiba's photo, as she put it, the four friends went over to the nearest classroom for orientation. Akira and Kai sat down together with Kiba, while Shikamaru sat a little further back so he could inconspicuously nap. Naruto, no longer covered in face paint, sat in front of them, a table ahead of Sasuke, which took everyone by surprise. Technically, Naruto hadn't graduated.

"What're you doing here, Naruto?" Shikamaru asked, trying to get in a comfortable sleeping position. "This isn't for drop-outs. You can't be here unless you graduated."  
"Oh, yeah? Do you see this, do you see this?" Naruto said, pointing at his headband with his thumb. "Open your eyes, Shikamaru, it's a regulation headband."  
"Yeah, Shikamaru, open your eyes," Akira chuckled. Shikamaru threw her an old chunk of eraser.  
"Let me put it this way: I look great in this head gear, it's like it was made for me! Believe it!"

Akira chuckled as Naruto and Shikamaru kept bickering, then looked around at everyone else. She knew most of them from her own class, but others she didn't, including Hinata Hyuga, which she only knew of. Akira didn't think that she'd get to know Hinata much; she was the definition of shy. Her pale lavender eyes were nearly always cast down and if her hair had been longer she'd probably use it to hide her face. But she couldn't, and Akira could see her blushing as she stared at Naruto.

"Hyuga has a thing for Naruto..." Akira whispered to herself.  
"Yeah, it's pretty obvious," Kiba said. "Though, admittedly not as bad at Sakura and the rest of the Sasuke fan-club."  
"Speaking of which..."

At that exact moment, Ino and Sakura came barging into the classroom, panting and arguing.

"I'm first!" they said together.  
"I won again, Sakura," Ino announced.  
"Give it up! I had to look back to see you, my foot was at least a tenth of an inch ahead!" Sakura argued.  
"Have you always been this delusional?"

The second Sakura walked into the room, Naruto's face went just as red has Hinata's and he couldn't help but stare. It got worse when she looked over and assumed she was looking at him when, in fact, she was looking at Sasuke right behind him. When she jogged over and he got up to say hi, she pushed him to the ground so that she could talk to Sasuke.

"Uh, good morning, Sasuke," she said shyly.

Sasuke glanced at her but said nothing.

"Mind if I sit next to you?"  
"Back off, Forehead! I'm sitting next to Sasuke!" Ino barged in.  
"I was here first!" Sakura said under her breath.  
"I walked into the classroom before you did, everyone knows that!"  
"Dream on!"  
"Hey!" Akira called sharply. "Pick a seat before I take the one next to Sasuke, you hear me?"

Unfortunately, the plan backfired, and it only animated more girls in the class, especially those who didn't know Akira and Sasuke were related. Irritated, Naruto stood then launched himself towards Sasuke to glare at him. He jumped onto one of the desks and crouched down so he was level with Sasuke, which made all the girls worry about him getting into a fight.

"Ugh, this is going to make me vomit," Akira groaned. "Why does it have to be my brother?"  
"It's not just your brother," Kai said, a small smirk on his lips. "It's Uchiha's in general, apparently."  
"What're you talking about?"  
"Look around, Kira," Kiba said, leaning back against his chair. "Unless all these guys we don't know are staring at my striking black eyes, they're looking at you."

Akira looked around, slightly disgusted.

"Do I still have petals in my hair?" she asked. "You guys said it looked cute the other day—I do not want to look cute!"  
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted, bringing everyone back to the seating situation. "Stop glaring at Sasuke!"

Naruto glanced from Sakura and the horde of girls, to Sasuke, to Akira, and then back at the horde of girls.

"See, her I can understand!" Naruto said, pointing at Akira. She groaned and sunk into her chair, pulling her hair over her face. "But what the hell do you see in this guy?"

A cacophony of shouts rung throughout the room. Akira heard a girl saying that Sasuke should beat up Naruto for even looking at him, and then, a second later, there was complete and utter silence at the scene before them. Someone had bumped Naruto and sent him forward, resulting in him involuntarily kissing Sasuke.

"What the—"  
"I don't know."  
"Uh..."

Sasuke and Naruto pulled apart and began gagging and spitting and coughing, trying their best to remove whatever contact they'd shared. Akira's eyes were wide as saucers, shocked and blankly staring at the two boys. Not even Kiba's waving hand in front of her face could snap her out of it.

"Curse you, Naruto!" Sasuke growled.  
"My mouth is rotting!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura started screaming about stealing Sasuke's first kiss, which effectively snapped Akira out of her stupor, and it took a few shouts from Iruka-sensei, who'd just entered the class, to settle everyone down into their seats. In the end, Sakura ended up taking the seat beside Sasuke, and Naruto moved up a row to sit next to her. 

"All right, everyone. As of today, you're all ninjas. You've all faced difficult trials and hardships, but that's nothing. What comes next will be far more difficult," Iruka said.  
"Reassuring," Kiba said sarcastically.  
"Now, you're only Genin, first-level ninjas, so don't let it go to your head. All Genin will be grouped into three-person squads, and since we're an uneven number, there'll be two squads of four Genin. Each squad will be lead by a Jōnin, an elite ninja."

Akira's mind wandered off as Iruka continued speaking. She wondered what the Jōnin were like, if they were serious, scary, if they were even capable of tolerating annoying Genin, at all. Akira hoped her new sensei would be at least a little nice, like Iruka-sensei, but Jōnin had gone through much more than him, so she doubted that the Jōnin would be as cute and cuddly as Iruka.

Did they make teams at random? Did the Jōnin chose who they wanted to teach? Did they try to make balanced teams? If that was the case, her dream of being put in the same team with Kai, Kiba and Shikamaru were gone. Sasuke and Naruto would definitely end up in the same team seeing as they were the best and worst of the graduates, but she wondered where people like herself, Sakura or even Hinata would fit in.

"We want each squad to have a balance of strengths and abilities, so that's how we set them up," Akira heard Iruka say as she came out of her thoughts. "I will now announce the squads."

Akira tuned most of it out. She heard Kai get sorted into a squad with Kiba, the Hyuga girl and some boy she didn't know. A few moments after, Shikamaru got put into a team with the annoying Ino, which made him groan loud enough for Iruka to hear, and Choji Akimichi. Akira's attention only perked up when she heard her name called just before Naruto's. They shared a grin, but Akira's faded when Sakura's name came after. Confusion followed as Iruka called Sasuke's name to complete the team.

"Both Uchiha's in the same team," Akira scoffed. "How's that balanced?"  
"Beats the hell outta me," Kiba said. "You would have been better off with me and Kai."  
"Seriously."  
"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto protested. "Why does a great ninja like me have to be with a slug like Sasuke!?"  
"Sasuke and Akira had the best scores of all the graduating students. Naruto, you had the worst scores in the history of Genin. To create a balanced group, we put the two best, which compensates for your worst."  
"Just make sure you don't get in my way, loser," Sasuke said in a low voice.  
"Hey, what did you say!?" Naruto shouted.  
"Hard of hearing?"  
"Knock it off, both of you!" Akira said sternly. "Sit down, Naruto."  
"After lunch, you'll meet your new Jōnin teachers," Iruka said as Naruto sat down. "Until then, class dismissed."

Everyone exited the class slowly, chatting up their new teammates. Akira walked out with Kiba, Kai, Hinata and Shino, the boy they didn't know, and stuck together until they were standing in front of the Academy.

"You guys go figure each other out, all right?" Akira called as she walked backwards towards the street. "Don't forget to tell me about your new sensei! Oh, and tell Shikamaru that I'll go to his funeral when Ino strangles him!"  
"Yeah, yeah," Kiba chuckled.

As they left, Sakura came out of the school, calling for none other than Sasuke Uchiha.

"Wrong Uchiha.".  
"Ugh, you. Why did Sasuke go running off so fast?" Sakura said.  
"That's what he does. It is Sasuke, after all," Akira sighed. She glanced at Sakura. "Hey, Sakura?"  
"Hm?"  
"I know you don't like me, and well, you know I'm not fond of you either, but uh... I mean, we're on the same team, we might as well try and get along. You wanna have lunch together?"  
"You, me, lunch?" Sakura muttered, a little surprised. "Um, sure. Why not?"

Akira sent Sakura an awkward smile and stuffed her hands in her pockets, walking off. 

"Hey, wait up!"  
"Well, hurry up! We don't have all day!"  
"Ugh, you are so full of yourself!"  
"Look who's talking!"


	5. Kakashi Hatake

"He's late!" 

Naruto's voice brought Akira out of whatever daydream she was having. Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and herself were waiting in an empty classroom for their new sensei. He was late, as Naruto kept remarking, but Akira didn't let it bother her. People were late all the time. Though she did hope that he wasn't late to actual missions—that would be an issue. Meanwhile, Akira sat cross-legged on a desk, humming an old tune and swaying to the beat. This alone could have probably entertained her for hours.

"Naruto, just sit down!" Sakura demanded, looking over to the yellow-haired boy.  
"I don't want to!" Naruto complained. "How come our teacher is the only one that's late!? The other groups have already met their new teachers and are gone on some kind of adventure! I mean—even Iruka-sensei left! I'm ready to roll!"  
"That reminds me, I need to ask the others about their sensei—hope he's a good one," Akira muttered. "Of course, not better than ours."  
"Definitely," Sakura agreed. "I'm sure ours will be the be—Naruto!"

Akira stopped her humming and looked up towards Naruto. She couldn't help but roll her eyes as he put a chalk-filled blackboard eraser on the partially open door, hoping that it'd fall on their sensei's head.

"What're you doing, Naruto!?"  
"That's what he gets for being late," Naruto said with a laugh.  
"You're asking for trouble. You know you shouldn't do that."  
"Our teacher is a Jōnin," Sasuke commented. "An Elite ninja."  
"Yeah, there's no way he'd fall for that!" Sakura added. "You're so clueless Naruto."  
"He's also a human being, who naturally lets his guard down around useless children like us," Akira said. "So, maybe it'll work."  
"I'll bet you five ryō," Sasuke said.  
"You're on."  
"Akira you can't bet against, Sasu—"

The squeaking of the classroom's door made everyone fall silent. Two seconds later, the door opened, and the eraser fell on the man's head. He paused, blinking the eye that wasn't covered by his bandana. Akira couldn't tell what his expression was because of the mask covering the other half of his face, but she knew that disappointment wasn't far away when he saw Sasuke pass her five ryō. What was most odd about this man, considering that only a quarter of his face was visible, was that Akira had never seen him before. How had she not notice a tall silver-haired man with barely any face showing?

"Ha! Got you!"  
"I'm so sorry, Sensei," Sakura apologised. "I told him not to do it, but he just wouldn't listen! And Akira—she's gambling! She bet that it would fall on your head! I'd never do anything like that!"  
"Shut up, Sakura," Akira said with a great sigh. 

The man picked up the eraser, looked at it, then looked up at the students sitting in the classroom. 

"How can I put this?" he said in a calm voice. "My first impression of this group..."  
"Idiots, I'd say," Akira mumbled.  
"Hey!" Sakura cried.  
"I didn't say you, Sakura. I'm sorry you felt that it concerned you."  
"Yup, you're a bunch of idiots," the man said.  
"The eraser thing was still funny though," Naruto said softly.  
"Follow me."

Akira uncrossed her legs and hopped off the desk. She followed the teacher out the door, closely followed by Sasuke and Sakura, and Naruto who was walking without touching the cracks in the floor. The five ninjas went up to the roof of the Academy which overlooked most of the city, and Akira took a moment to observe it.

The cityscape was a jumble of shapes like a child had cast blocks down randomly and then swept them so close together they touched. There were rectangles, domes and mini-castles. There were spires, weather vanes and satellite dishes. The roads were so narrow that they frequently became blocked by carts bringing in wares between the dwellings and businesses.

The silver-haired man went up to the edge and leaned back against the railing, facing the students. They sat down on a small step and looked up at him.

"All right, why don't you introduce yourselves... one at a time."  
"Introduce ourselves? Well, what're we supposed to say?" Sakura asked.   
"Things you like, things you don't, dreams for the future, hobbies," the man said almost apathetically. "Things like that."  
"Why don't you tell us stuff first? I mean, first, tell us about you so that we can see how it's supposed to work," Naruto said.  
"Me? I'm Kakashi Hatake. Things I like and things I hate... I don't feel like telling you that." Akira narrowed his eyes at him. "Dreams for the future... Never really thought about it. As for hobbies, I have many."  
"You realise that you literally just told us your name, right?" Akira said, sounding a little sceptic.  
"Yes. Yes, I do."

Akira frowned. That was useless. They'd learned nothing about him. How were they supposed to work together if they knew nothing about each other?

"Okay, your turn. You on the right," he said.  
"Believe it—I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I like instant ramen, but I like the ramen from Ichiraku's best. I hate the three minutes you have to wait after pouring water in the ramen cup. My hobby is eating different kinds of ramen and comparing them... And my future dream is to be the greatest Hokage! Then the whole village will stop disrespecting me and start treating me like I'm somebody important."

Akira quirked an eyebrow at Naruto. She knew he was a little... weird, but who loved ramen that much? Even Kakashi-sensei looked perplexed.

"All right, then," he said. "Next."  
"I'm Sakura Haruno! What I like, uh... I mean, the person I like is..." Sakura glanced over at Sasuke, a blush covering her cheeks. Akira sighed and rolled her eyes. "Um, my hobby is, uh..." she giggled. "My future dreams are..." she squealed.  
"And? What do you hate?"   
"Naruto!"

Akira fought the urge to slam her palm onto her forehead. 

"Next."  
"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I have a lot of dislikes and don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and destroy... a certain someone."  
"Drama queen," Akira huffed.  
"Uh, right, yes, last one."  
"My name is Akira Uchiha. Sounds stupid, but I like learning about things. Anything, really. One of my favourite things, though are my friends. Um..." Akira frowned and scratched her head. "I don't particularly dislike anything except for seafood, I don't think. As a hobby I sing a little—hum mostly 'cause I hate the sound of my voice. And dream for the future? That's an easy one," Akira said with a smile. "I want to become the best ninja I can be and follow in my father's footsteps. One day, I want to be the head of Konoha Military Police and protect my city with all I've got!"

Kakashi-sensei seemed almost relieved to hear something normal.

"Good," he said. "You're all unique and have your own ideas. We'll have our first mission tomorrow."  
"Oh! What kind of mission are we going to have?" Naruto asked.  
"It's a task that the five of us will do together."  
"What—what—what—what?"  
"A survival exercise," Kakashi-sensei said.

Akira perked up at the mention of a survival exercise. They had done many during the Academy, but it was always fun seeing Kai trying to eat beetles because he didn't manage his food correctly. She could only imagine what it would be like to see Sakura try to eat squirrel.

"I thought we were supposed to have a real mission, not more practice!" Sakura complained. "We already did this stuff at the Academy, that's how we got here."  
"This is not like your previous training," Kakashi-sensei said.  
"So uh—so uh, what kind of training is it then?" Naruto asked.

To everyone's surprise, Kakashi laughed, almost maliciously.

"What's so funny, sensei?" Akira asked, worried.  
"Well, if I tell you the answer, you're not going to like it," he said.  
"Huh? What's he talking about?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi looked directly at his new students.  
"Out of the twenty-nine graduates who came here, only eleven will be accepted as Genin. The other eighteen will be weeded out and sent back to the Academy." Akira's eyes widened. "In other words, it's a make-it-or-break-it pass or fail test, and the chance that you'll fail is at least sixty-six per cent."  
"That's crazy!" Naruto yelled.  
"See? I told you, you wouldn't like it."  
"Then what was that graduation test for anyway?" Sakura complained.  
"Oh, that. Well, that was just to select those who might become Genin," Kakashi-sensei replied. "Or not."  
"Whaaaat!?" Naruto shouted. "The test was useless, then!"  
"Well, I wouldn't say that, Naruto," Akira said contemplatively. "I mean, sure the test in itself was stupid and a complete waste of our time, but at least it made us review what we knew—gave us a little more practice and a better chance at becoming Genin. That's if Kakashi-sensei thinks we're worthy or something."  
"That's the way it is—I decide whether you pass or fail," Kakashi said. "Be at the designated training ground tomorrow morning at 5am, and bring your ninja gear. Oh, and tomorrow you better skip breakfast, or else... you'll puke."


	6. Teamwork

The nightmare was always the same. A happy Akira and Sasuke were running around the Uchiha compound together, laughing, throwing water balloons at each other, then everything turned red. There were bodies everywhere, sprawled across the ground, blood pooling around them. Their parents, laid out in the family room, cold and dead, Itachi looming over. That's when Akira woke up in a cold sweat, chest heaving and eyes wide as if she'd truly been seeing what was in her dream. After a few calming breaths, Akira turned to check the time.

Akira dragged herself out of bed and got dressed slowly, pushing her nightmare to the back of her mind. She made herself a cup of tea and debated whether to eat something before leaving, despite her sensei saying not to. She stared at the leftover rice and grilled vegetables in the fridge but decided against eating for the simple fact that Kakashi-sensei had asked them.

Akira went back to her room and packed all of her ninja gear: she placed at least a dozen of kunai in her thigh pocket, a dozen shuriken in the pouch attached to one of her fabric belts and strapped knife sheaths on her arms, one on her inner forearm and the other on the outside. Akira even attached a strap to her ankle to hold a small knife. 

Akira and Sasuke set out in silence and headed in the general direction of the designated training ground. The sky was littered with lavender and dark blue tones rather than the pitch black it was earlier. The birds were still asleep, the silence was peaceful, and the scent of flowers covered in dew reached Akira's nose when passing the main avenue. Akira looked over and sighed, suddenly missing her usual morning rituals with Kai, Kiba and Shikamaru.

Sakura and Naruto were arriving simultaneously as Sasuke and Akira, but they seemed to be nearly sleepwalking. Everyone was just as tired, but of course, Sasuke Uchiha couldn't show any kind of weakness.

"Morning," Sakura said sleepily.  
"It's not morning until the sun is up," Akira said lazily. "I'm usually asleep at this hour."

Naruto plopped down where he stood.

"So what do we do?" he asked.  
"We wait, I guess," Akira said. 

The first orange hued rays of sunrise arrived much later, and they shone down on the late morning as the four students sat, waiting for their sensei. Akira looked around at her teammates then up at the sun, squinting, and stretched up her hand into the sky. She let the soft amber glow of the sunrise pour through her fingers and onto her upturned face.

"Morning everyone, ready for your first day?"

Everyone turned towards the calm voice, and in a split second, Sakura was on her feet, pointing accusingly at Kakashi-sensei. Naruto did the same. Even Sasuke was glaring.

"You're late!" Sakura and Naruto chorused.  
"Well, a black cat crossed my path, so I had to take the long way," Kakashi provided as an answer.   
"I'm too tired to argue with that," Akira yawned.

As Naruto growled at him, Akira stood up and brushed the dust off her pants.

"Well," Kakashi cleared his throat. "Let's get started." He went over to a nearby tree stump and placed an alarm clock on it. Akira furrowed her eyebrows. "Here we go. It's set for noon."

Akira looked at the clock. Whatever Kakashi-sensei was planning, they'd have four hours to do it. Then, sensei took out three bells, each on a red ribbon.

"Your assignment is very simple. You just have to take these bells from me. That's all there is to it," Kakashi-sensei said. "If you can't get them by noon, you go without lunch. You'll be tied to those posts, and you'll watch as I eat my lunch in front of you."

Akira gave her teacher a scathing look. So that's why he told them not to eat breakfast—to make it harder on them. She suddenly regretted passing up on the leftover rice and vegetables.

"Wait, Sensei," Akira said. "There are only three bells."  
"Well that way, there will be at least one of you tied to the posts and ultimately disqualified for failing to complete the mission," he said. Akira swore he was grinning underneath that mask. "That one... goes back to the Academy. Then again, all four of you could flunk out too. You can use any weapon. If you're not prepared to kill me, you won't be able to take the bells."  
"Those weapons are too dangerous, Sensei!" Sakura said, concerned.  
"Especially since you couldn't dodge that eraser," Naruto laughed.

Akira frowned at her teammates. He was a Jōnin, an elite ninja. He'd deceived them already by failing to introduce himself properly and somehow convincing them not to eat breakfast. Surely he'd let the eraser fall on him on purpose to give them the impression he wasn't all that good (and earn Akira an easy five ryō). But Akira had a feeling that taking a bell from him wasn't going to be an easy task at all. So what was the best way to take them away? 

"Class clowns are usually the weakest links, you can safely ignore them," Kakashi said.

A light went off in her mind. If they'd all work as a team, they could easily overpower one ninja even if he was a Jōnin. She looked at her brother. He seemed to be thinking a lot too. Hopefully, they were thinking of the same thing.

"When I say start, you can begin."

Suddenly, Naruto launched himself at Kakashi-sensei, unsheathing a kunai from its holster. As he swung at him, Kakashi grabbed his hand and turned Naruto around, pointing his own kunai at the back of his head. Akira barely noticed any movement from Kakashi-sensei as he'd done that. He was fast, and she was right; they'd get nowhere working alone.

"Don't be in such a hurry," Kakashi said. "I didn't say start yet. But, you came at me with the intent to destroy me, so... how can I say this? I'm actually starting to like you guys."

Akira chuckled. 

"Get ready," sensei said, and Akira looked over to her brother. "And... start!"

Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke immediately jumped and fled the glade, off to hide somewhere, leaving Akira alone with Kakashi-sensei, and looking more annoyed than anything else.

"Great. I turn to my brother to tell him we should all work together, but no! They all hide!" Akira growled and began walking away calmly. "Does anyone use their brains anymore?"  
"Akira?"  
"Hm?" she hummed and faced Kakashi-sensei.  
"Usually, a ninja doesn't reveal their plan in front of the target."  
"Yeah, well, you don't know how we'd work together, do you?" The girl sighed. "Well, I'm going to go find Sasuke. Have fun being attacked by Naruto, sensei."

Akira stopped and turned again, an idea forming in her mind.

"Sensei?"  
"Yes?"  
"Can one bell count for two people if obtained together?"  
"Yes."  
"Interesting."

Akira then leapt into the nearest tree and moved around until she found a good spot to conceal herself. She then put her hands together to form a hand seal, and a Shadow Clone of herself went off to find Sasuke while she observed the glade. As predicted, Naruto was already challenging Kakashi-sensei on his own. 

"You and me! Right now! Fair and square!" he shouted.  
"Idiot," Akira muttered under her breath.

She then produced another Shadow Clone and sent it off to help Naruto. Akira knew that none of them would want to work together: Naruto had to prove himself after Kakashi-sensei called him a loser; Sasuke was so used to doing things on his own the thought probably never crossed his mind; and Sakura was, well... Sakura. Akira sent another clone to her just in case she did decide to come out of her hiding spot. 

The plan was in motion. Technically, a two-person team was still a team. If a bell was obtained with one of Akira's clones, she and whoever she'd gotten it with would get a bell and become a Genin. After that, she was free to help everyone else, her placement ensured.

"You know, compared to the others, you're a bit... weird," Kakashi told Naruto.

Akira watched as Naruto ran to attack Kakashi-sensei. To either antagonize him or show that Naruto posed no threat at all, Kakashi began reading mid-combat, stopping all of Naruto's attacks with one hand. This kept up until Kakashi seemingly got bored and suddenly appeared behind Naruto. He said something about one thousand years of death, and then Kancho'd Naruto so hard he went flying into the lake. Kakashi watched Naruto land and then went back to his reading, which made Akira chuckle under her breath. While he hadn't yet proved to be as nice as Iruka-sensei, he sure was a lot more fun.

Just then, two shurikens came flying out of the water towards Kakashi, who stopped them by deftly catching them by the hole in the middle of each shuriken. Akira frowned. He hadn't even looked. She crossed-out the idea of a long-range attack out of her mind; there would be far too many things that could go wrong and far too many ways Kakashi could evade her.

Naruto then angrily crawled out of the water and began shouting at Kakashi-sensei about not eating breakfast, which made Akira's stomach growl against her will. She was beyond hungry, and it was starting to affect her thinking. However, her mind was pulled away from the rumbling of her stomach, and towards the shifting of chakra in one of her clones, which emerged out of the water with seven other Naruto's. They all attacked at once, Naruto clearly doing more work than the Akira clone. Meanwhile, Akira watched closely as Kakashi used the Substitution Jutsu to switch places with one of Naruto's clones. Naruto assumed that Kakashi had fled and, noticing something shining on the ground, he went to pick it up. Akira's clone shouted something, but it proved to be of no use as Naruto's ankle was snagged by a hidden rope. Akira sighed and dispelled her clone as Naruto swung from the tree.

Kakashi appeared above him, sitting comfortably in the tree, but jumped down and looked up at Naruto to lecture him. Then, Akira felt another shift in one of her clones' chakra, and it felt closer than last time. She stared at Kakashi for a moment, and it came to her; his back was turned—it was the perfect time to strike.

Six shurikens flew out of the trees nearby, and Akira knew it was her brother. She positioned herself to exit the trees unnoticed just as Kakashi was distracted by the shuriken hitting him dead in the back. An annoyed huff left her mouth as Kakashi vanished into a puff of smoke and turned into a log. 

Akira heard leaves rustling to her right, and she hoped it was was Sasuke changing locations as he'd just given away his position. She rose a hand into a seal and dismissed the clone with Sakura; if Naruto had gotten caught and Sasuke was changing position, the next target was surely her. Kakashi had already seen one clone, and if he saw another, he'd most likely get suspicious. 

A scream resonated throughout the nearby forest. Akira could tell it was Sakura but hadn't the faintest idea what in the woods could make her scream in such a way. But as Sakura screamed a few more times, the reason came to her mind, and it made Akira sigh in irritation. 

"Genjutsu," she muttered to herself.

Naruto was trapped by the ankle, swinging aimlessly like an idiot; Sakura was apparently stuck in some kind of Genjutsu, and Sasuke was off someplace giving away his position like a first-year Academy student. At least her plan, she hoped, hadn't been compromised. Her final hope was Sasuke. She'd need to secure a bell with him to go help the others get their own.

Sakura screamed again.

"Oh, come on, Kakashi-sensei," Akira whispered.

The man definitely wasn't going easy on them. One the one hand, Akira didn't think it was fair. They weren't even official Genin yet, and he was already training them as they were Chūnin or Jōnin already. One the other hand, however, Akira could only imagine the satisfaction after winning a bell off of Kakashi-sensei. 

Just then, she spotted Sasuke and her last clone out in the glade with Kakashi, and Akira slowed her breathing to better eavesdrop on the conversation.

"—not like Sakura and Naruto."  
"Say that after you guys get a bell," Kakashi said.

Both Uchiha turned towards their sensei and then shared a roguish look. Sasuke and the Akira clone sent kunai and shuriken at Kakashi, which he easily dodged to the left. But the siblings had something planned. The clone threw a seemingly innocent kunai in no particular direction. Still, it hit a hidden rope that unleased more shuriken and kunai towards Kakashi, who was forced to dodge more. Akira looked at Sasuke and her clone, impressed—they'd been busy.

The real Akira slowly inched towards the battle, making sure to remain silent and hidden in the bushes. Sasuke and the clone kept Kakashi distracted by attacking him head-on. With two reasonably capable Genin attacking him left and right, it left Akira the opportunity to sneak in. In one swift movement, her right hand reached for the holster on her left, and from it, she pulled a small knife. She agilely jumped out of the bushes, and as she landed, she swung her blade outwards, extending it into a long tachi. Akira sliced the ribbon attached to one of the bells on Kakashi's belt and tapped the bell towards her with just the tip of her tachi. The ringing sound brought Kakashi away from the battle, and as the clone vanished into thin air, he looked behind him. Akira was holding a bell with a proud smile.

"Teamwork."


	7. Sensei

"Teamwork."

Akira gave Sasuke a high five. It felt good to have been on the same page with her brother for the first in a while, and it felt even better after having nabbed one of the bells in this seemingly impossible test. She stared at the bell for a moment. It was like a trophy more than a bell.

"Impressive," Kakashi conceded.  
"Now, don't you go back on your word, Sensei," Akira insisted, pointing a finger at Kakashi. "This bell counts for both me and Sasuke."  
"Yes, yes, don't need to threaten me." He turned to look over his shoulder. "Enjoy your lunch."

In a moment he'd disappeared, and reappeared beside the bento box lunches he'd somehow managed to purchase while the test was going on. Naruto had managed to escape his dangling prison and had spotted the boxes. Just as he was about to open one of the boxes, Kakashi dragged him off and tied him to one of the three posts near the lake, upon which sat the bento boxes.

Sakura appeared moments later, seemingly unharmed, but when she spotted Sasuke, she screamed and fainted. He and Akira shared a glance and shrugged. Sasuke went over to wake her up and, unfortunately for him, was tackled in a hug the second Sakura had woken up. Akira laughed and took a moment to appreciate her brother's suffering before the alarm clock that announced lunchtime rang.

"You really thought that eating lunch before noon was a good idea?" Akira asked, walking over to Naruto.

Naruto stuck his tongue out at her, and she laughed, then took a seat beside him. Sasuke sat beside her a few moments later, dragging Sakura along as she was still latching onto him. As if on cue, all of their stomachs growled.

"Uh oh, stomachs growling. That's too bad—I've got something to say, first," Kakashi said, crouching down to the Genin's level. "I've decided that I won't be sending any of you back to the Academy."  
"What? I passed?" Sakura asked, thoroughly confused. "All I did was scream and faint. Did I get points for that?"  
"Then—then all four of us," Naruto began, "We're—"  
"No," Kakashi said sternly. 

The smiles on everyone's faces immediately vanished.

"Akira will become a Genin. The rest of you... are being dropped from the program. Permanently."  
"What? Drop us from the program? But that means we'll never become ninjas!" Naruto protested. "You said that if we didn't get the bells, we'd get sent back to the Academy!"  
"And what about Sasuke! You said that if a team got a bell, it counted for everyone involved!" Akira exclaimed. "You can't just change your mind like that! How could you do that?"  
"Because they don't think like ninjas, they think like little kids, like brats," Kakashi-sensei said. 

Sasuke launched himself at Kakashi, eyes filled with anger. But like with Naruto, Kakashi had his student pinned to the ground.

"Apparently, everyone except Akira thinks it's all about you."  
"Let go of Sasuke! You can't just step on him like he's some bug!" Sakura shouted, tears welling in her eyes.  
"She's crazy, but I have to agree," Akira said, irritated.  
"I'm sorry, Akira, but they don't know what it means to be ninja," Kakashi said condescendingly. He looked at Naruto and Sakura. "You think it's a game, huh? Why did we put you on squads? Did you ponder that question for a moment?"  
"I don't know what you mean," Sakura said.  
"I mean, no one except Akira understood what this exercise was all about!" Kakashi stated. "Not even close."  
"What it's about?" Naruto said, confused.  
"Yes. That determines whether you pass or fail."  
"But that's—I wanted to ask you that from the beginning," Sakura said.  
"Use your head! Four people on a squad—why do you think we would do that?"  
"Why don't you ask Akira, she knows the answer!" Naruto said, bratty.  
"Because she already knows! Because it's basic! She even said it moments ago!"   
"It's teamwork," Akira said with a sigh.

Everyone's expression stiffened, and they all gazed at Kakashi-sensei.

"Just working together? Is that what you mean?" Sakura asked.  
"That's what I mean," Kakashi said.   
"But Akira only teamed up with me, not all of us!" Naruto complained.  
"That's not exactly right," Akira said, awkwardly scratching the back of her head. "Clearly, to get one of the bells, we'd have to work together. Kakashi-sensei is a Jōnin—there's no way we could even dream of taking him on alone. But you all ran off the second the test started so... I had to improvise."  
"What?"   
"I asked Sensei if two people caught a single bell, whether that bell counted for both people or just one? When he confirmed that if two people got a bell using teamwork, I sent a clone to each of you.  
"If I got a bell by helping one of you, and if Kakashi permitted it, then I would have gone helping the rest of you get your own bell. That way, we all would have gotten one."  
"It was a good strategy," Kakashi said. "But it's too late now. If you hadn't fallen for my traps so easily, you might each have a bell by now."  
"Wait a minute," Sakura said. "You set it up with three bells and four people. You purposefully pitted us against each other!"  
"I did. I wanted to see if you could overcome that and put the squad ahead of yourselves! A Genin should naturally lean towards teamwork, but—the thought never even crossed your minds!" Kakashi said, sounding increasingly dismayed. "Sakura—you obsessed about Sasuke who was gone, while Naruto was right there and you didn't lift a finger to help him. Naruto—you do everything on your own. Everything! And you," Kakashi said, pressing Sasuke's face harder into the ground, "you, Sasuke, thought that the others were so far beneath you they were worthless. Arrogance!  
"Ninja missions are carried out in squads. Of course, you need individual skills, but teamwork is the most essential element. Every shinobi knows this. When individuals put themselves above the squad, this can lead to failure and death. For example—" Kakashi removed a kunai from one of his pouches and placed it against Sasuke's neck. "Sakura, kill Naruto now, or Sasuke dies!"

Akira, Sakura and Naruto looked scandalized.

"That's what happens on a mission." Kakashi put the kunai away. "The enemy takes a hostage and you've got an impossible choice. And someone ends up dead. On every mission, your life is on the line..."

Kakashi got off Sasuke and slowly walked over to a large stone.

"Did you look at this stone? The names engraved on it?" he said, stopping in front of it. "They are all ninja that are honoured as heroes in our village."  
"That's it, that's it, that's it!" Naruto exclaimed. "I decided I'm gonna have my name engraved on that stone!"

Akira's head swiftly turned towards Naruto, and she glared at him so hard that he visibly recoiled. Even Sakura, who wasn't directly looking at her, could see the viciousness in her glance. It was dark and murderous—nothing she'd ever seen on Akira before or something she wanted to see ever again.

"They are... a special kind of hero," Kakashi said, looking back at the students. "They're all, K.I.A."  
"Oh, that sounds real cool!" Naruto said, but Akira's glare made him shrink again.  
"K.I.A. means killed in action Naruto, they all died!" Akira growled. "The Uchiha name is the most prominent one on that stone."

Naruto's happy-go-lucky expression died in an instant, and sadness filled his eyes. Even Sasuke, who usually had the emotional range of a teaspoon, narrowed his eyes at the stone. Sakura's shoulders slumped, and she glanced at Akira's profile; her jaw was rigid with anger.

"This is a memorial," Kakashi said calmly. "The names of my closest friends are engraved here."

Akira let out a slow breath as her anger melted away. She watched Kakashi's eyes as they stared at a few places in particular. He did that for a while and said nothing, leaving his students to wonder just how many people Kakashi had lost. Against her better judgement, Akira went to stand beside him. She looked down at the names of her parents, her uncles, her cousins.

"This might be too... soft, of me. But you could give them another chance," Akira muttered, just loud enough so that Kakashi could hear. He glanced sideways at her. "My father never cared much for second chances, but my mother always said if you believe in someone, they were always worthy of a second chance." Akira shrugged. "I believe in them."

Akira looked up at Kakashi. He seemed to be deep in thought, from what she could see of his face as if he was remembering or debating something in his mind. After a few moments, he looked away and addressed the three other students.

"All right, I'm going to give you one more chance."

Akira closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. As if by chance, when her deep blue eyes reopened, they fell on her father's name. For a moment, she felt defiant, but pride swelled over when Naruto and Sakura cheered. Akira turned to look at them and laughed.

"But I'm going to make it much harder on you," Kakashi stated. "You'll only have one hour to accomplish the task.  
"Eat lunch now to build up strength, but—Naruto doesn't get any. It's your punishment for trying to eat by yourself. And, if anyone tries to feed him, that person will immediately fail.  
"Akira—you already passed, which means you can't help them in any way. Got it?"

Naruto was about to protest, but Kakashi-sensei cut him off before he could say anything.

"I make the rules. You follow them. Got it?"  
"Yes, sensei," Sakura sighed.

With that, Kakashi disappeared from sight, but Akira doubted he was very far away. She took three of four lunch boxes and handed one to Sasuke and the other to Sakura.

"Oh no, mine has spicy karaage," Sakura said sadly.  
"Do you prefer shrimp?" Akira said, showing her box to Sakura. "There are sweet potatoes, too."  
"You want to trade?"  
"Yeah, sure."

Akira and Sakura traded bento boxes and began eating. Sasuke plucked the umeboshi out of his rice and dropped onto Akira's, who passed it onto Sakura when she spotted it. However, their friendly lunch was consistently interrupted by the growling of Naruto's stomach. He kept insisting that he'd be fine without food for a whole day, but none of them believed him. If Akira had still been participating in the exercise, she'd have fed against Kakashi's instructions, but she had to count on selfish Sasuke and air-head Sakura to do it for her, instead. And just like that, to everyone's surprise, Sasuke cracked the fourth bento box open and offered it to Naruto.

"Here," he said, sounding annoyed.  
"No, Sasuke! You can't do that!" Sakura said, voice hushed. "You heard what Sensei said!"  
"Kakashi's gone. We need to get those bells as a team. If Naruto's hungry, he'll be weak and ineffective. That hurts the team and jeopardizes the mission," Sasuke said. He looked over at his sister. "At least that's what Akira would say, or... something like that."

  
Akira laughed at her brother, who was trying very hard not to look like he wanted to murder Naruto. With a sigh, Sakura cracked the chopsticks for the fourth bento box and offered to feed him since his hands were tied, which nearly brought Naruto to tears. Unfortunately, after Naruto took his first bite, Kakashi appeared in front of them in a big cloud of smoke.

"So dramatic," Akira muttered, stuffing a piece of tamagoyaki in her mouth.  
"You!" he shouted at Naruto. "You broke the rules. I hope you're ready for the punishment!"

Akira shook her head and kept eating, watching the scene unfold like some television series Kai liked until her lunch blew away as a result of the storm Kakashi was brewing for effect.

"Any last words?"  
"Yeah, you made my lunch fly away, Sensei," Akira said, annoyed. "You're buying me another."  
"But—but you said—"  
"Yes?" Kakashi said, taunting.  
"You said there were four of us! That's what you said, and that's why, uh..."  
"We're all on this squad, and we're all in it together!" Sasuke said, standing up.  
"Yeah, that's right!" Sakura added. "We gave Naruto some food because the four of us are one!"  
"The four of you are one? That's your excuse?" Kakashi-sensei said, looming over the four students. "You pass."

Akira snorted and laughed as Kakashi stared at them with smiling eyes. The storm began to dissipate, and the blue sky returned.

"We passed?" Sakura said. "How'd we pass?"  
"You're the first squad that ever succeeded," Kakashi-sensei said. "The others did exactly as I said and fell into every trap. They couldn't think for themselves. A ninja must see through deception. In the ninja world, those who break the rules are scum, that's true. But... ninjas who leave their friends behind are worse than scum."  
"Heh," Naruto chuckled. "You're kinda cool, Sensei."  
"The exercise is over. Everyone passes! Squad Seven gets their first mission tomorrow!" Kakashi said, with a thumbs-up. "Let's go home."  
"Oh, no! You owe us lunch!"

While Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto stood up calmly, smiling (at least a little in Sasuke's case), Akira ran up to Kakashi with an annoyed look on her face. 

"Lunch?" he said, blinking stupidly.  
"Yeah, your dramatic-effect storm blew it away!" Akira insisted.  
"Oh, uh, sorry about that."  
"By the way, what was that?" Akira's annoyance had suddenly vanished, replaced by a gleam of curiosity in her eyes. "I know I read about it in a scroll somewhere..."  
"All right, come on," Kakashi said with a laugh, "I'll tell you about it over lunch."

Kakashi dropped a hand on Akira's head and ruffled her hair, which she protested immediately. But instead of swearing, like she usually did when Kai did the same thing, Akira laughed and swatted his hand away. She was grinning like a child, nearly bouncing as she walked, more excited than ever to know she was going to be trained by a ninja like Kakashi. Akira looked back to Naruto, who was annoying Sakura as usual, and she smiled. Looking up at Kakashi lazy expression, last week's jealousy in the face of Iruka and Naruto acting like brothers had vanished, replaced by the warm sensation of contentment.


End file.
